The Choice
by Lillix Vail
Summary: “Are you just going to watch me walk away from you again or are you going to stop me? The choice is yours, Toushirou. I hope you make the right one.” Hitsugaya must make the choice: watch her walk out his life forever or make sure she stays? HitsuKarin


**Disclaimer: **Bleach does not belong to me. This is a purely fictional story based on the characters and story created by Tite Kubo, to whom they do belong.

**AN: **I know, it's not my story update. *hides* But I can assure you 30Kisses is due for an update within the next few weeks, and most likely UMDB shortly after. Be patient with me? ;-)

And yes, I know they're both totally and completely out of character. But this idea was just screaming to be let out. Who am I to deny the muses? ^.^ Anyways, despite them not being themselves and any typos there may be, I hope you enoy it nonetheless.

**KKTH**

"_Are you just going to watch me walk away from you again or are you going to stop me? The choice is yours, Toushirou. I hope you make the right one."_

Karin had asked him that fate deciding question almost a week ago. It was gnawing on his mind, distracting him from everything. He was dismissed from the Captain's meeting because he just couldn't keep his lack of focus hidden from Yamamoto. It was driving him insane how much she was in his head, tormenting him and taking up all of his time. The hellion wouldn't give him a moment's peace, her quiet statement constantly echoing through his head and ringing in his ears. Wherever he went he saw her, solemn eyes penetrating him and glancing deep into his very soul. He was losing what precious little sleep he got in the first place and it was showing in his eyes.

"_I can't make the decision for you. This is something you have to do alone. You know that I'm prepared to do anything for you, but I don't think I can stand waiting forever for you to make up your mind._"

He would do anything for her, absolutely anything. He did a whole lot more than she would ever know about to keep her safe. If something happened to her, he couldn't even bring himself to think about what it would do to him. How he was feeling at this moment, if it came between protecting Heaven or protecting Karin, he would abandon Heaven with no hesitation. For without her to keep him going, there was no point to him being alive to defend anything. An ultimate act of treason, he knew yet didn't care. He dared not tell anyone this, with good reasons. But come to the crunch, he knew what he would do.

"_If you decide to let me walk away, consider this the final time. I will accept whatever life comes my way with no regrets. If I walk away this time, I don't think we could ever see each other again._"

Those three sentences alone had sent slivers of panic through his body. He had never felt so afraid of anything before. The thought of not being able to talk to her again was unfathomable. It gave him the mad desire to latch onto her and never let her go. Karin had gotten through his inner most defences and had lodged herself neatly inside. To not be able to speak to the one person who knew him so completely and so thoroughly would be the worst thing he could imagine.

"_Come find me when you've made your decision._"

He felt so out of control. His emotions were spiralling around him so fast he couldn't seem to make any sense of them. No matter how hard he tried, he could never seem to take a firm hold of them. It was disconcerting for someone who had absolute control of everything to do with himself to be so totally shaken that his world had tipped upside down and spun around. After a week he had confined himself to his quarters, unable to face anyone with his mind so chaotic. Everyone was worried about him and what a radical personality change he had gone through in such a short period of time. Those in the know let him go, knowing he had to do this alone unless he sought their council. Those who didn't know were kept away for fear of them adding to his already jumbled thoughts.

Toushirou had received a letter from the Captain Commander, giving him permission to bring Karin to Soul Society if he so chose to. Yamamoto was no fool, he knew that without this girl, the Tenth Division Captain would fall so hard and fast that no one could even hope to save him. Deliberating and weighing the outcomes of such an action, Heaven needing their Guardian outweighed the need of anything else.

Toushirou knew he needed her, he knew she needed him. They needed each other. They completed one another. He had the choice; the fate of everything they had together resting in his hand. If he so chose he could crush it into a thousand irreparable pieces or could share it with her for eternity.

Scrubbing his hands in his hair in frustration, he made for the bathing area, determined to try and get a moment of reprieve. There were so many other factors that he had no idea where to begin deciphering them.

He knew he had to try or he would lose her forever.

**KKTH**

Waiting, Karin had decided, was by far the worst thing anyone could have invented. She didn't like it, waiting while her future was decided. She had forced him into a corner and left the decision up to him, but it didn't mean she had to like it. Karin remembered the look on his face as she gave him the choice, how his eyes widened ever so slightly. As she continued, she saw uncertainty and fear flash through them. She could only imagine what his face looked like when she turned and walked away. Rubbing her cheek on her pillow in a very cat like manner, she wondered how he was; if he was dealing with the entire thing alright. She was frightened of hearing the decision, but knew without knowing she would be hanging in the proverbial limbo for the rest of her life, wondering the typical 'what if' scenario.

Rolling onto her back, clutching the dragon he won for her, she looked up at the clear skylight and let her mind float, distracting herself from the wait if only for a brief moment.

**KKTH**

Two weeks had passed and he knew what he had to do. It had taken that long to sort through everything in his mind. Calmness had finally returned to his Inner World, something Hyourinmaru was grateful for. The snow storms were fine for a day or so, but a fourteen day straight blizzard was pushing it even for him. As Toushirou made his way to the Gate, he still had no clues as to what to say when he confronted her. His distant gaze and the heavy bags under his eyes stopped everyone from asking him for authorisation and they simply let him through.

Before he knew it he was standing on the outskirts of Karakura. He knew Karin would be able to tell he was there. She had always been sensitive to his reiatsu since they first met. He made his way towards their meeting place slowly, nervous about what was about to take place. Turning the corner, he saw that Karin was already there. She must have sprinted to the hill at the first stirrings on his reiatsu in this world. His thoughts were still whirling in his mind, but he paid them no heed as she turned to face him.

"Toushirou," she said quietly.

He inclined his head as he came to stand next to her. Any plans about what he was going to attempt to say flew out his head as she looked up at him, grey eyes dark with emotion. He hated that he was the one to make her feel so confused... and to make her give him the ultimatum. But he couldn't dwell and those thoughts any longer when her soft hand rested on his cheek.

"You wouldn't have come if you haven't decided," she said with a certainty he didn't think he had felt before this morning.

Looking down at her, watching her wait on the edge, sealed the deal on his decision. He couldn't leave her, never intended to leave her. What took him so long to figure it out until he had no hesitations he'd never know.

"I'm not going to let you walk away from me again. Not now, not ever again," he said firmly, not looking away from her eyes. "I refuse to let someone who knows me better than anyone, someone I love more than anything, slip from me again. It happened once and it was agony. I'm not prepared to lose you because of something as stupid as me not realising what I was doing to you. I didn't realise how much I was hurting you."

Bowing her head, Karin tried not to cry. She hadn't cried since she was three years old and she didn't think she could keep her promise she made. Sniffling, she wrapped her arms around Toushirou's waist, her head buried in his shoulder. Putting his around her shoulders, he knew he had made the only correct decision. He had thought of letting her lead a normal human life, getting married to another human and becoming a mother to human children. The thought of her with anyone else repulsed him more than he thought. Tightening his grip, he rested his head atop of hers, his thoughts finally quiet for the first time in over two weeks.

"I'm glad," she whispered through her hiccups.

"Hmm?" Toushirou murmured.

"That you chose to stay with me. If you had said otherwise..."

"But I didn't. So don't think of it anymore. I'm not going anywhere," he cut infirmly.

Humming in contentment, she allowed what warmth he had to offer seep into her own body. They had a long way to go and even more things to discuss, but for the moment nothing could break them apart. Nothing could interrupt their world, finally what they both wanted. They had each other, and for now, it was enough.


End file.
